Gunsmithing Problems with fluting factory barel and action ?

bear foot bowhunter

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Minuteman
Oct 13, 2013
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Qld australia
Hi guys just receved an email from a gunsmith saying that they wont flute factory bareals or bolts because it could cause the barel to warp and that it mucks with the heat treating on a bolt is this true ? if i get another gun smith to do it is there any processes i have to ensure is done ?
 
I personally don't get fluting... with that said, if you mill the entire length of the barrel, you will add a lot of stress during the process. If it shoots well now, I would leave it alone.

There are a lot of Smiths that will flute a finished barrel. Does your smith have the correct mill and lathe to do the job?
 
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Mat my idea was to have a duel purpose rifle and wanted to shave som waight of the front end and re designat it to the back with a better stock Hopfully acheving a bit better balence and mabe some waight deduction . i really dont know what this guy has he is advertising on his websight as a custom gunsmith
 
This is a copy of what he said-
To flute a barrel either 5 or 6 flutes $465.00. We don’t flute factory barrels as they are often not well stress relieved and can warp. Also bolts are normally fluted before heat treating, so no to that also - too hard too machine.
Barrel threaded for Imperial thread $175.00 for a normal rifle barrel. Metric thread add 450.00 for set up.
 
Mat my idea was to have a duel purpose rifle and wanted to shave som waight of the front end and re designat it to the back with a better stock Hopfully acheving a bit better balence and mabe some waight deduction . i really dont know what this guy has he is advertising on his websight as a custom gunsmith

Seems you would have to remove alot of material to make any real difference with fluting, shortening the barrel a few inches would probably get a more desirable effect that you described you wanted.
 
This is a copy of what he said-
To flute a barrel either 5 or 6 flutes $465.00. We don’t flute factory barrels as they are often not well stress relieved and can warp. Also bolts are normally fluted before heat treating, so no to that also - too hard too machine.
Barrel threaded for Imperial thread $175.00 for a normal rifle barrel. Metric thread add 450.00 for set up.

Sounds like he is intentionally trying to price himself out of doing it.
 
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Hi guys just receved an email from a gunsmith saying that they wont flute factory bareals or bolts because it could cause the barel to warp and that it mucks with the heat treating on a bolt is this true ?
That is absolutely true. It doesn't happen 100% of the time with OEM barrels but when it does it is absolutely outside the gunsmith's control. The 'smith obviously doesn't want to be blamed by ignorant gun owners when it does happen.

And I don't blame him.
 
Hi guys just receved an email from a gunsmith saying that they wont flute factory bareals or bolts because it could cause the barel to warp and that it mucks with the heat treating on a bolt is this true ? if i get another gun smith to do it is there any processes i have to ensure is done ?


I've been fluting factory, "kustumz", tomator stakes, and just about every other kind of barrel for 15+ years now. Occassionally, you do get one that acts a bit fussy after fluting. Typcially, that can be solved with some load work. In the extreme case (and this is very, very, very rare) the barrel gets pulled and a new one gets hung. Maybe 3 or 4 times I've had to do this over a 15 year span and I do a pile of this work for both us and a large number of smaller shops world wide. (we have over 130 dealers/shops that sub work to us)

To date, I've yet to have a bolt "killed" by fluting. Operator error, certainly. I've killed a pile of barrels/bolts over the years (bearing in mind we do close to 4,000 of em a year, no shit) because I had the wrong program, offset, or whatever. People kill stuff, its what we do, lol.

There's no difference in the fluting process between a factory barrel being fluted by the factory or what any shop offering the service does. It's just machine work. Screwing with heat treat on a bolt is absurd. -Maybe if you run the tool backwards and puddle weld the flute. :) I run my tooling dry (no coolant, air only) and I reach in and remove the part by hand. Have not been burned yet.

The Ouji boards and hairs of newt voodoo some folk like to profess is just opinion. Find a vetted shop known to do the work and just get out of the way. It's easy stuff....